It'd been a couple of weeks since we'd been out sailing, both because Jamie has been keeping too busy with school, and because our aged two-stroke outboard hasn't been performing well lately. While our goal is to spend as much time as possible under sail, we still rely on the outboard to get us in and out of the marina, and it's always nice to know it's there to fall back on when something goes wrong.

We got to the harbor and started getting things ship shape as recently taught by our friend, Bill, preparing the sails, making up lines, and putting cell phones, wallets and keys into a plastic bag. Nearly ready, we were greeted by our harbormaster, Peter, who suggested we should walk down to the end of the harbor to see something cool before heading out in the boat. The something cool turned out to be a group of manatees drinking fresh water from a hose off the back of another sailboat.

Six months have passed since I sold my house of 3 years in Margate and left South Florida, my home of 7 years. I'd been missing my wonderful neighbors who'd become a big part of my life, especially Matt and Joe who'd visit most every day after school and on the weekends. I also got to visit with John and to meet his new love, Katie, happy to see that life has taken a wonderful turn for the better for him. I also hung out with Tim and Stephanie who sold their house and are eying new states to possibly call home.

St. Augustine was only five hours north, so I couldn't resist a road trip to visit Jamie for a few days. It was too short a visit, so she accompanied me back down to Florida for the last few days before I headed out to the west coast. I didn't have time to visit everyone I'd have liked to, but I was happy to see everyone that I did. It was nice to be back, and very nice to be warm again.